My First Quilt Market

Apologies for the radio silence this week, but I was away for a week and a half, mainly going to Quilt Market, and also hanging out with a friend for a couple of days, then it was back here and straight into the day job for 2 days! I think I’m finally sorted out, both mentally and physically, so are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin…

After the fiasco of arriving at Sewing Summit by the skin of my teeth and without my luggage, I planned a little better this time, and flew in to Pittsburgh on Monday the 12th, a couple of days before things kicked off. That allowed me to have dinner with a friend and her family, who I haven’t seen in over 6 years, and spend my first night in a hotel out at the airport. The next day my friend came over after work and dropped me off at my hotel downtown.

It was swelteringly hot the first 3 days I was there, and I had not packed any shorts, but given that the Wyndham was opposite the lovely Point State Park, I sucked it up and ventured out in the heat in my jeans so that I could explore a little, enjoy the sun, and visit the fountain. Of course the plus side to the fountain was the slight mist of cool water that you go standing next to it ;o)

After about an hour I couldn’t stand it any more and headed back to the air con in the hotel and waited for Leanne, one of my roomies, to arrive. We hung out that night, and the next day, where we got our culture on at the Andy Warhol museum before wandering round town for a while:

That evening Rachael and Al, our remaining roomies, arrived, and we got ourselves psyched up for the first day at Schoolhouse.

I laughed every time I saw that ‘My First Market’ banner thing, it reminds me of those toys you get as a toddler. Come to think of it, I did feel kind of small…

Schoolhouse was a bit of an all day scrum, running around between classrooms, but we were lucky enough to be able to attend the Cotton + Steel presentation, which was first, and get practically front row seats:

I’m sure you’ve read about this all over now, but fair to say the hype was totally worth it, they did an amazing job all weekend.

I got to see many online friends doing their own Schoolhouses (see my IG feed if you didn’t catch it at the time), but I might have been a little awed by the Tula one. And bless her, she barely batted an eyelid when I queued up behind the people wanting her to sign books and fabric and asked if she’d take a photo with a bear (it’s a bit blurry, I was nervously trying to remove myself from her presence again ASAP):

We were lucky enough to get to near the front of the line for Sample Spree that evening, and suffice to say we shopped (although some of us came away with rather less than others ;o) ). I got a couple of the Cotton + Steel bundles, and a couple of Art Gallery Fabrics ones too, and was happy with that (ecstatic when I found they were at wholesale prices lol)

Over the next 3 days I toured around this (this is actually only a fraction of half of it on setup day)

There were 25 aisles, each with a good 30-40 booths, and it was utterly mind blowing! Good thing they had maps is all I can say! I spent the Friday hanging out for most of the day with the lovely Becca from Sew Me A Song (and getting a hug from a bewildered Pat Sloan, but that’s another story), and I can tell you there’s lots of fabulous new stock that will be arriving soon!

Saturday and Sunday were more down to business, and there’s hopefully some new developments coming to the Thistle Patch, but it was also time to meet up with friends, enjoy their successes and eat ice cream:

I got to spend the Monday with my friend again, and we headed off to the zoo and her son’s baseball game, then on Tuesday I started my journey home, finally arriving at lunchtime on Wednesday.

If anyone has any particular questions, let me know, but I’m sure you’ve all seen a ton of Market posts already, so I thought I’d spare you the full tour!

I saw your little face in someone else's market write up and I was a teeny bit jealous (all right, a lot) that you got to go to market. You and the bear have the best trips! Glad you got to go and meet so many people – especially Tula! I'd love to see a picture of your Cotton & Steel bundles, and all your acquisitions actually – I need to live vicariously through you!